Force-blast elevator.



No. 654,252; Patented my 24, I900.

A. HUMBEBGER.

.FDBCE BLAST ELEVATOR.

(Application filed .nn. so, 1899.)

(NoJMdeL) I 5 I" N 2 m 2 r 7L //v VE/VTO m M WIIIIIIIII/ B I w -a- 76ATTORNEY:

m: NORFHS PETERS co, Pnoro-umou WASHINGTON, n. c.

ALONZO HUMBERGER, OF NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA.

FORCE-BLAST ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. e54,252;d y 2 1905.Application filed January 30, 1899. Serial No. 703,853. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALONZO HUMBERGER,

residing at North Platte, in the county of Lincoln and State ofNebraska, have invented 5 certain useful Improvements in Force-BlastElevators; and I do hereby declare that the followingis afull, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it app'ertains to make and use the same,reference being had propelled.

0 means of suitable bolts.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown in Figure 1 a'broken sectionalview of a blast-elevator embodying my invention, while Fig. 2 shows atop view of the fan adapted to create the force-blast as employed in myinvention.

My invention embodies, essentially, a suit: able supporting-standard A,adapted to support and hold a bottomless dished casing B, provided witha lower, preferably central, opening 3 and the upper outwardly-extendingflange 2, by means of which flange said lower casing B is secured to asuitable support or standard. Secured to this lower casing B is anapproximately-cone-shaped inverted drum 0, which is provided with theextending flange 3, corresponding to and coinciding with the flange 2,so that these two casings B and C may be removably connected, preferablyby Atthe upper end this upper casing is further provided with anoutwardly-flared flange 4, by means of which said upper casing O issecured to a suitable duct or pipe K, made to extend any suitabledistance from this upper casing O.

Centrally positioned within the upper casing 0 is anapproximately-cone-shaped drum D, which drum above is provided with thesolid cone a, and which drum further follows in outline the conformationof the upper casexit-point of this upper casing C, as will be readilyunderstood in referring to Fig. 1 in the accompanying drawings. Thisdrum may be solid or be composed of sheet metal, held in proper shape bymeans of the spiders 0 and 1. To securely hold this drum D within theupper casing C, I prefer to use a plurality of preferably flatstay-pieces 5, which are disposed between and connect this drum D to thecasing O.

For the sake of convenicnceI have provided the drum D with an inner tube'7, from which the spiders 0 and 1 radiate, and this tube farther belowis made to accommodate a bearing 6, securely held and supported by thelower spider 1.. For the sake of convenience the lower spider 1 may beprovided with the central hub, provided with a suitable bearing.

Extending from a suitable bearing 10 upward through the opening 3,within the lower casing B, is a main operating-shaft 9, which shaftabove snugly fits into and works within the hub 6, so that said shaft 9is revolubly supported within said bearing 6 and said hub, as is shownin Fig. 1. At a suitable point this shaft 9 is provided with the speedor other pulley 16, adapted to receive a suitable power to rotate thisshaft. Secured to the upper end of this shaft 9 is a spider 8, whichspider sup ports an approximately-oone-shaped jacket 12, preferably ofsheet metal, which jacket begins at a point below and adjacent to thedrum D, so that said jacket 12 in effect forms a continuation of thisinner drum, the spiders 8 of which are fixed to the drive-shaft .9.Secured to the outer face of this jacket 12 are a plurality of blades 1313, which blades begin near the upper edge of said jacket 12 and thenspirally wind downward upon this jacket. At their lower ends theseblades terminate in a line approximately at right angles to the face ofthe jacket 12, and they are made wider at the bottom than at the top, asthe jacket 12 approximately conforms to the outer shape of the lowercasing B, so

that the wall-space between said lower casing and jacket contracts as itrises, as is shown in the drawings. From this it will be seen that myinvention embodies, essentially, a housing provided with an innerstationary shell ad apted to form a wall-space of decreasing capacity,while the lower portion of said housing is occupied by arevolubly-supported jacket, to which are secured suitable fan-blades 13.

Surrounding the shaft 9 and immediately below the intake-opening of thelower casing B is a hopper 14 of suitable capacity, into which empties asuitable chute z, through which the material to be elevated or propelledis fed. Secured to the shaft 9 at a point within the hopper 14 is asimple stub spiral 15, which is adapted to agitate and elevate thematerial within the hopper 14.

Extending from the exit-opening of thenpper casing O and forming acontinuation thereof is a suitable pipe or duct K, which pipe or duct iscontinued in the direction in which the material is to be fed, and atthe discharge-point this duct is widened or increased in capacity, as isshown in Fig. 1, and is provided with an interrupter, preferably in theform of a shield or screen 18, which shield or screen, however, is notmade airtight, but is of a mesh fine enough to arrest the progress ofthe material passing through this upper duct. This arrester or screen ispreferably removably held within the pipe K, which pipe for that purposemay be provided with a suitable outwardly-flanged seating 19, withinwhich this interrupter, which maybe of any suitable size, shape, ormaterial, is held.

At a point within the duct K and below the interrupter 18, whichinterrupter is preferably set at an angle declining toward the directionfrom which the material is to be fed, is a suitable receptacle 20, whichreceptacle is provided with a counterbalanced drop-door 21, as is shown.Extending from the interrupter 18 the pipe K continues downward until itis led into the lower hopper 14.

Positioned below the receptacle 20 is a suitable bin 24, from whichextends a suitable spout 25, which is preferably flexible, so that thematerial as it is fed into the bin 24 may be distributed within suitablereceptacles within reach of the spout 25.

The operation of the device as described wouldbe as follows: Asufficiently-high speed being imparted to the shaft 9 to rotate thefan-blades 13, a powerful force-blast would be created, which would befed through the lower opening 3 and continue through the housing 0, thenthrough the duct K, through the interrupter 18, and then sweepingdownward until it found an exit through the bottomof the hopper 14 toterminate immediately below the intake-opening 3. The material to beelevated or propelled, which might be grain, ore, coal, or any othersuitable material, would find its way through the chute a into thehopper 14, where the combined forces of the air and the spiral wouldtend to lift the same until it was properly drawn through theinlet-opening 3, where it would come within and receive the full forceof the powerful air-blast generated by the fan 13, and with this currentthe material would be carried up the duct until it came in contact withthe arrester 18, upon which it would be impinged and given a newdirection in the receptacle below, while the current would freely passthrough the interrupter to continue the airbelt. After a snfiicientamount of material had been collected upon the drop-bottom of thereceptacle 20 this bottom would open to permit the escape of a part ofthe material within the receptacle, and this material would escape inabout the same proportion below as would be fed into it above, so thatthere would be practically no loss of air at this point.

The hopper 14 is provided with a duct k. The receptacle is provided witha bottom 21, pivoted at the point 22, and which bottom iscounterbalanced by means of a weight 23. As soon as any materialcollects within this receptacle upon the bottom 21 to aweight exceedingthat of the counterbalance 23 this weight will drop to empty thematerial into the bin 24.

1 do not wish to be understood as confining myself to the preciseconstruction as hereinbefore set forth for the reason that thesame mightbe modified without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by United States Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a suitable housing provided with an intake andan exit opening, said housing decreasing in capacity toward said intakeand exit openings, of a shaft positioned within said housing andextending beyond the same, a fan secured to said shaft within saidhousing adjacent to said intakeopening, and a duct continuing from saidexitopening.

2. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacity towardopposite ends and having an intake-opening near one of said decreasingends and an exit-opening at the remaining decreased end, of a shellwithin said housing near the exit end to provide an annular space ofdecreased capacity within said housing, a shaft entering said housing atthe intake end, said shell supporting said shaft within said housing, abearing external to said housing supporting said shaft, and a fanforming a continuation of said shell and being secured to said shaftwithin said housing.

IIO

3. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacity towardopposite ends and having an intake-opening near one of saiddecreasedends and an exit-opening at the remaining decreased end, of ashell 1 shell and being secured to said shaft within said housing, and aduct extending from said exit end.

4. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacity towardopposite ends and having an intake-opening near one of said decreasedends and an exit-opening at the remaining decreased end, of a shellwithin said housing near the exit end to pro vide an annular space ofdecreased capacity within said housing, a shaft entering said housing atthe intake end, said shell supporting said shaft within said housing, abearing external to said housing supporting said shaft, a fan forming acontinuation of said shell and being secured to said shaft within saidhousing, a duct extending from said exit end, and an interrupterpositioned Within said duct.

5. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacity towardopposite ends and having an intake-opening near one of said decreasedends and an exit-opening at the remaining decreased end, of a shellwithin said housing near the exit end to provide an annular space ofdecreased capacity within said housing, a shaft entering said housing atthe intake end, said shell supporting said shaft within said housing, abearing external to said housing supporting said shaft, a fan forming acontinuation of said shell and being secured to said shaft Within saidhousing, a duct extending from said exit end, an interrupter positionedWithin said duct, and a hopper adjacent to said intake end.

6. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacity towardopposite ends and having an intake-opening near one of said decreasedends and an exitopening at the remaining decreased end, of a shellwithin said housing near the exit end to pro v-ide an annular space ofdecreased capacity within said housing, a shaft entering said housing atthe intake end, said shell supporting said shaft within said housing, abearing external to said housing supporting said shaft, a fan forming acontinuation of said shell and being secured to said shaft within saidhousing, a duct extending from said exit end, an interrupter positionedwithin said duct, a hopper adjacent to said intake end, and a receptaclecontinuous with said duct, said receptacle being positioned adjacent tosaid interrupter.

4 7. The combination with a suitable housing decreasing in capacitytoward opposite ends, said housing having an intake and an exit openingat said ends, of a shell within said housing and terminating adjacent tosaid exit-point and approximately conforming to the shape of saidintake-housing to provide an air-space of decreasing capacity toward theexit-opening, a bearing supported by said shell, an operating-shaftentering said housing through the intake-opening and working within saidbearing, a fan secured to said shaft and positioned within said housing, a hopper adjacent to said intake-opening, a spiral within saidhopper and secured to said shaft, a duct extending from the exitopeningand continuing and returning to enter said hopper below saidintake-opening, an interrupter within said duct, and a chambercommunicating with said interrupter.

ALONZO HUMBERGER.

In presence of GEORGE W. Sons, MABEL A. DODSWORTH'.

